... Under the Swastika

Nazi forced labour in rural areas

Nazi forced labour has been the subject of increasingly public attention in recent years. In most cases, news reports and research have focused on the forced labour used by larger companies. However, very little is known about how forced labour was implemented and carried out in rural areas. The four seminar and exhibition projects, coordinated by the Zwangsarbeit e.V., focused on the locally-specific forms of forced labour which existed in rural areas and small villages like Riesa or Gröditz in Saxony, Bückeburg in Lower Saxony and Extertal in North Rhine-Westphalia. The projects were especially targeted at international young people (from Poland, Czech Republic and Ukraine), whose research has been supervised and incorporated into the exhibitions by scientific advisors. In addition to an extensive accompanying programme featuring encounters with contemporary witnesses, film presentations and discussions, the project also included artistic interventions, designed by local artists to fit the conditions on location. The four projects also served to expand the network between individuals and organizations devoted to the culture of remembrance.